Effects Of Skin Coating Materials, Storage Conditions On PH,Titratable Acidity And Vitamin C Contents Of Citrus Fruits Stored At Room And Refrigerated Temperatures

An investigation was carried out on fruits of five species of Citrus namely, Citrussinensis, (sweet orange); C reticulate, (tangerine); C aurantium, (sour orange); Cauratifolia, (lime); C paradise (grapefruit).The different citrus fruits were treatedby dipping in a mixture of detergent solution and petroleum jelly and wrappingwith aluminium foil and stored at room and refrigerated temperatures for 12weeks.Control fruits which were not treated were also set up. The fruits treated bydipping in a mixture detergent solution and petroleum jelly and refrigeratedshowed the least changes in pH, highest changes in titratable acidity and lowestchanges in vitamin C content. This was followed by fruits dipped in a mixture ofdetergent solution and petroleum jelly and refrigerated without wrapping.And thefruits treated by dipping in a mixture of detergent solution and petroleum jellyand stored at room temperature. All the treated fruits performed better whencompared to the control with no treatment given and stored at roomtemperature.Regardless of treatment given to each fruit ,lime has the lowest pH,highest titratable acidity,this was followed sour orange, grapefruit, tangerine andsweet orange.As for the vitamin C content,sweet orange had the highest value,followed by sour orange, grapefruit,lime and tangerine in that order.